the Transparent Cockpit:

[Brock Samson]

 Interesting too is the Transparent Cloak application. 

videos here.. 
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ2FhX-BtEw
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F__4c7f2sy8&NR=1


http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn14896-transparent-cockpit-removes-car-blind-spots.html?feedId=online-news_rss20


No matter how clean your car's windshield, the view from the driver's seat is less than perfect. Solid features such as dashboard and doors can conceal road hazards such as other vehicles and pedestrians.

Now a team of engineers has come up with a way to make those solid features "disappear", at least from the driver's point of view, without modifying them in any way.

A pair of stereo cameras mounted on the passenger-side wing mirror capture scenery usually hidden from the driver by the dashboard and the solid parts of doors.

A headset worn by the driver (see image, below right) projects the cameras' output onto the solid features, displaying a clear view of what hides behind them as if they were transparent (see image, right). A video shows the prototype in action (8 MB, mpg format) working in real time.

The "transparent cockpit" system, as the research team call it, was developed in the lab of electrical engineer Susumu Tachi, at the University of Tokyo.

Shiny surfaces
To make the car appear transparent to the driver, video output from the headset is projected onto a retro-reflective surface covering the opaque parts of the interior.

This surface directs any light that hits it straight back along its path and produces vivid video images.

In the past Tachi has spectacularly demonstrated this technology with an "invisibility cloak" (see video of the system here), a raincoat that appears transparent when the scene behind it is projected onto it.

To enhance the illusion of transparency, the projected images must be scaled correctly. The system does this by using stereo cameras to judge the distance to objects in view, much the way humans do.

The head position of the driver is also taken into account, using movement sensors mounted on the headset projector.

The result is a true-to-life view of the outside, as if the opaque parts of the car weren't there. Cyclists are more easily spotted through the usually opaque parts of the door, and parking becomes easier too, because road markings and kerb can be seen through the doors.

Safer cyclists
The researchers say their idea could apply to the A-pillars at either side of the windshield too, which can create blind spots for a driver.

Although a person sitting in the passenger seat would hamper the system, commercial drivers, who are usually alone, could benefit from the system. It might also help pilots of helicopters or other aircraft, say the researchers. In those scenarios the practicalities of wearing the headset would also be less of an issue.

"These sort of systems have been talked about for years, but this the best example of its kind that I've seen so far," says Andrew Parkes, who performs behavioural studies on drivers at the Transport Research Laboratory in the UK.

Letting the driver see usually hidden hazards is better than alarm systems that can be hard to interpret, says Parkes. Drivers of large goods vehicles that struggle to see pedestrians, cycles and vehicles on their near side would particularly benefit, he says.

"But there's a long way to go before deciding whether it would be beneficial in practice," he adds.

[Drache]

In the past Tachi has spectacularly demonstrated this technology with an "invisibility cloak" (see video of the system here), a raincoat that appears transparent when the scene behind it is projected onto it.

The perfect PREDATOR costume here I come! 

[Mike DC]

 

So it was really holographic planes that hit the WTC towers?   

[Charger_Fan]

Does this have anything to do with Wonder Woman's invisible plane technology?

[Mike DC]

 
She can make the whole damn plain invisible, but her outfit is still fully opaque . . .